Egg carton



Patented Nov. 17, 1936 E'GG CARTON William J. De Reamer, Crown Point, Ind., as-

sig'nor'to Mapes Consolidated Manufacturing (Jompany, Grifiith, Ind, a corporation of Delaware Application February 4, 1936, Serial No. 62,319

' 4 Claims. (oi. 229-29) This invention relates to moulded pulp cartons, it more particlularly relatinglto a carton adapted to act as a carrier for eggs, although not necessarily limited to that purpose.

An object of the inventionis to provide a carton which will be simple'in construction, economical inmanufacture and effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

A further object of the invention is to rovide 0 a carton which will be sumciently flexible to permit the cells thereof to yield suilicient to tightly hold the eggs or other articles contained therein, but at the same time'stifi enough to give the necessary rigidity to prevent buckling.

A further object of the invention is toprovide C a carton formed of two complemental hinged halves, one of which is provided with flaps on the free edge thereof and the other so constructed as to receive those flaps.

0 Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the carton in the opened position.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top plan of the closed carton. a

Fig. 3v is a fragmentary longitudinal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. l in the lower half of the carton.

Fig. ,4 is a fragmentary longitudinal section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig.5 is a fragmentary transverse section on the line 55 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary transverse section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Fig.7 is an end view of the'opened carton. Fig. 8, is an end view of a closed carton, the

view being partly in elevation and partly in transverse section.

Referring to the drawing, in Fig. 1 the car- .ton is shown in its opened position, and as can be seen, is composed of two halves, oneof which,

in indicated at I, is to be known'as the upper half,

while the half 2 is designated as the lower half. The two halves are connected to each other by the hingeportion 3. In Fig; 7 isshown an end} view of the opened carton.

I5 In order to provide a desirable stillness for the carton when the carton is in an opened or closed position, each half is so formed as to have a series of longitudinal and transverse intersecting ribs, which in conjunction with the side and end i0 walls of the halves, form egg-receiving depressions. A Referring to the lower half 2, the longitudinalribs are shown at I and 5. 'I'heseribs are I hollow since this particular carton is preferably produced by a moulded pulp process, and in ct- II fect stand up from 'the flat sheet 6 of the half I.

The longitudinal ribs 4 and Hate crossed by the shorter intersecting transversely disposed ribs I, 8, 9 and III also standing up from the flat sheet 6 and reaching the same height as the ribs 4 and 5.

The inwardly and downwardly sloping end and side walls of the half 2 are best seen in the sectional views, Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6. The end wall for the left hand end is indicated at I I, Fig. 3, while the opposite end wall is shown at I2, Fig. 4. 10 The outer and inner side walls of this half 'are seen at I3 and I4 respectively in Figs. 5 and 6. The end and side walls are formed to have the sloping effect for two reasons, one being that the carton is readily moulded, the other being that 15 in conjunction with the previously mentioned longitudinal and transverse ribs, egg-receiving pockets are formed in which in reference to the carton half in question, the lower portions of eggs are received. 2

None of the ribs extends completely to either end or side walls of the half. As can be seen in Fig. 1, the left end of the longitudinal rib 4 stops short of the end wall I I, the sloping end I5 of the rib 4 meeting the sloping end-wall vII at the lat- 5 ters connection with the flat sheet 6. By stopping the rib short of the end wall as described, the effect is that a V-shapeddepression I6 is formed across the end of the lower half as viewed from' above, as in Fig. 1. However, since the 30 moulding process produces comparatively uniform wall thicknesses throughout the carton, the effect is further that a hollow rib II is formed across the end of the half which greatly strengthens the lower half at this point, this rib being in- 5 verted with respect'to the ribs 4, 5, I, 8, 9 and III. The same feature is true in reference to the opposite end of the half, since the longitudinal rib 5, in being stopped short of the end wall I2, forms at this end the inverted rib I 8.

Inverted ribs of the same nature are formed at the center of the lower half 2 for the same purpose, since the adjacent ends of each of the longitudinal ribs 4 and 5 are stopped short of a central rib IS, the inverted ribs here being indicated at 20 and II on either side of the central rib I9 (Figs. 3 and 4).

' The transversely extending ribs 6, I, 8 and 9 also are not extended to the side wall of the lower half for a similar purpose, 1. e., of providing the inverted longitudinalstrengthening ribs seen at 22 and 23, Figs. 5 and 6'. The inverted rib 22 has another function, that is, since it is a hollow rib as are all the other ribs, a series of V-shaped longitudinally extending depressions 24, as'viewed from above as in Fig. 1. The purpose of this formation is to aid in keeping the closed carton 4 in a condition whereby accidental opening is minto its variation from the lower half, it being first "mentioned that in order to provide an upper half which will fold over and close down on the lower ham-the construction of the upper half is complementary to the lower half; The diflerence between the halves is that for the upper half, along the edge opposite the hinge portion 3, 'there is provided a flap portion 25. which, for the present purpose, is hingedly connected integrally with the upper halt-and is thereby capable of [being bent along the broken line 26 (Fig. 1). When eggs are 7 tudinal ribs, the other transverseribs being inplaced in the pockets and the upper half closed over, as shown in Fig. 8, the flap is bent downwardly and forced inwardly into the depressions 2 4 alongside the side wall l8. Inthis view, the

-, eggs are shown by broken lines E, and it can be seen that the lower edge of the flap'25 is forced between the eggs'in the outer row and the side wall i3, whereby the friction of the flap so held is suflicient to prevent accidental opening 0! the carton. L

- I To provide i'urther against accidental breakage so of the enclosed eggs, thejpockets are made sumciently small so that in pressing an egg into a pocket, the hollow ribs yield to the pressure, this feature also being true as regards the corresponding ribs of the upper half when the same is closed down over the lower half. its a. further precaution, there is provided in each pocket, at the bottom, when reference is made to the lowerhali and at the top when referring to the upper half,

, a small hollow boss such as is indicated at 21 in Having thus described my invention, 1 claim: a

1. In a moulded pulp carton, two halves hinged ,tog'ether, each of said halves having centrallyar-v ranged longitudinal ribs and transverse ribs intersecting said longitudinal ribs, said ribs meeting to form egg,cells, the-ribs of each half terminating short of the walls thereof, one of said halves being pr'ovided'on its free side edge-with at least one flap adapted to be tucked into the other com-- plemental half between the transverse ribs and .the side wall thereof;

2. In a moulded pulp egg receptacle, a carton member having end and side walls, a pair of centrally arranged aligned longitudinal'ribs each of equal height throughout and with each other, transverse ribs, one otsaid. transverse ribs being centrally arrang'ed with respect to the length of the carton member and lying betweensaid longicells, one of said transverse ribs being centrally I arranged with respect to the length ofthe carton member and lying between said longitudinal ribs;

all of said transverse ribs save the centrally arranged rib being each integrally attachedirom bottom to top to its companion longitudinal rib. 4. In a moulded pulp egg receptacle, a carton member having end and side walls, a pair of centrally arranged aligned longitudinal ribs each of equal height throughout and with each other, transverse ribs, one of said transverse ribs being centrally arrangedwith respect to the length of the carton member and lying between said longitudinal ribs, the other transverse ribs being integrally formed with said longitudinal ribs, the upper-portions of said transverse ribs alltermi- ,natingshort oi the sides of said carton member,"

J. DE REAMER. 

